Baseball Cards

June 28, 2009 | David Davis, Davis is a contributing writer at Los Angeles magazine.

Long ago, when children were allowed to wander from their parents' side for more than 15 minutes, I spent much of my free time accumulating baseball cards. After school, my buddy Adam Rogers and I would stroll to the candy store and buy multiple packs. We'd sit on a stoop near his apartment, tear open the wrappers, and debate the merits of each player until it grew dark. We didn't fret about the cards' condition or whether we could complete the set.

Dan Clements reached into his bag for a roll of a blue duct tape. Dodger blue. Then he pulled out a pack of baseball cards, so shiny that the glare blinded you for a moment. He flipped through the cards, one Dodgers star after another. He had room for only one card, so it needed to be just right. Mike Piazza? Never won a postseason game with the Dodgers. Eric Karros? Same thing. Jackie Robinson? On the one hand, who can go wrong with Jackie Robinson? On the other hand, he never knew of something called a "postseason.

December 21, 2011 | By Jeannine Stein, Los Angeles Times / For the Booster Shots blog

The baseball cards Amelie Mancini makes are not exactly what fans are used to seeing. Sure, they contain player stats, but not the usual ones. For example, did you know that shortstop and second baseman Clint Barmes fell and broke his collar bone while carrying a package of deer meat up a flight of stairs? Or that former outfielder Glenallen Hill reportedly scraped himself up after having a nightmare about spiders? Or that former pitcher John Smoltz allegedly burned himself while ironing a shirt...while he was still wearing it?

A 1909 Honus Wagner baseball trading card was sold Saturday for a record $2.1 million in a public online sale, according to Goldin Auctions, which did not identify who purchased the rarest of collectibles. The New Jersey-based company closed bidding on the T206 card of the Pittsburgh Pirates shortstop early Saturday. The sales price eclipsed the $1.62 million the same card fetched in 2008. The record price for a trading card is $2.8 million in a private sale in 2007. The card is graded as an Excellent 5 by Professional Sports Authenticator and is exceptionally rare because it's part of a jumbo series that is larger than the normal trading card.

As Yogi Berra might say, it's deja vu all over again at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where a new permanent exhibition highlights nearly 75 years of baseball cards--from 1887 until 1959. It opened this month in the American Wing, the first time that baseball cards from the museum's Burdick Collection have been on view for the general public. Besides Berra, the cards on display include such notables of the game as Babe Ruth, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron and Ted Williams.

A veteran National League umpire was charged with stealing 4,180 baseball cards from a Target retail store in Bakersfield, authorities said. Bob Engel, 56, was released on $5,000 bail from Kern County Jail Saturday and is scheduled to be arraigned May 2 on misdemeanor counts of commercial burglary and petty theft, police said. A Target security officer told police that Engel put seven boxes of Score brand baseball cards, valued at $143.

Interstate 280 was awash with baseball cards Monday, but motorists with a love of the game couldn't take advantage of the windfall. Boxes containing 20,000 of the cards--owner unknown--fell from a truck and were hit by cars scattering them on the freeway. The California Highway Patrol showed up, and officers kept drivers from stopping to pick them up. Caltrans crews cleaned up the mess. "Whoever the (truck) driver was, he didn't stop," CHP Officer Andy Anderson said.

A 14-year-old boy shot his 12-year-old brother to death after they argued over baseball cards, then he killed himself, authorities said today. Damien Bienash, 14, used a shotgun that apparently had been given to him by an adult who planned to take him hunting, said Richard A. Messner, deputy coroner for Rock County. The bodies of Damien and his brother, Clay, were found by their mother when she returned to their apartment Thursday afternoon. She had been gone for about 2 1/2 hours, Messner said.

As President Bush gears up to send more armored divisions to the Persian Gulf, the owner of a baseball card store in Lawndale is planning to send a few big guns of his own--former slugger Reggie Jackson, all-star pitcher Dennis (Oil Can) Boyd and superstar shortstop Ozzie Smith. The players, of course, won't be boarding jets for the Middle East. But thousands of baseball cards bearing their pictures and those of other sports heroes will.

Umpire Bob Engel was put on indefinite leave of absence today by the National League after being charged with stealing more than 4,000 baseball cards from a store in Bakersfield, Calif. The league announced the suspension in a brief statement saying that the 56-year-old Engel had been put on leave by NL President Bill White "so that he can direct his energy toward the charges that have been leveled against him." The statement added: "Mr. Engel is in complete agreement with the decision."

Remember that chalky pink piece of gum that used to come in every pack of baseball cards? Well you might want to steer away from the one Topps would have to make to match the Prince Fielder card it unveiled Tuesday in Lakeland, Fla. At 275 pounds, Fielder, who plays for the Detroit Tigers, is a big guy under normal circumstances. But his new baseball card is of Ruthian proportions, measuring approximately 90 feet tall and 60 feet wide, making it the largest baseball card ever made, according to Topps.

Richard McWilliam, hailed for revolutionizing the trading card and sports memorabilia industry as a co-founder and chief executive officer of Carlsbad-based Upper Deck Co., has died. He was 59. McWilliam died Saturday at his home in Rancho Santa Fe. While no cause of death has been announced, the company noted that McWilliam had a history of heart disease and had undergone heart surgery in 2008. McWilliam co-founded Upper Deck in 1989 and immediately set about challenging the leaders of an industry whose origins date to the late 19th century, when cards with pictures of baseball players were sold in packs of chewing tobacco.

A baseball card from 1865 uncovered at a yard sale in Maine could fetch six figures on the auction block, a report says. A man browsing the sale picked up a photo album with the card tucked inside in Baileyville, a town near the Canadian border, the Saco River Auction Co. told the Associated Press. Quiz: How well do you remember 2012? The 148-year-old card, which doesn't feature just one player like many modern versions, is a photo of the Brooklyn Atlantics amateur baseball team pasted onto a card.

The very first wild-card baseball playoffs will be held later today. Each league will hold a one-game, winner-take-all matchup, with the winning teams advancing to the league division series, and the losers going home after just one postseason game. Up first, at 2 p.m. PDT, the St, Louis Cardinals (the defending World Series champions) take on the Atlanta Braves. At 5:30 p.m., the Baltimore Orioles take on the Texas Rangers. In honor of the one-game format, Major League Baseball has released a video highlighting some great moments of the past when everything was on the line in one game.

Baseball or history lover? Both? You can save money while helping Boston's Fenway Park celebrate its centenary . The Green Monster turns 100 on April 20, but the deal lasts all season. The deal: The Hotel Commonwealth is offering a special 100 th Anniversary Package priced from $339 to $479 a night during the 2012 Boston Red Sox season. The package includes lodging for two in a superior deluxe Fenway Room (470 square feet) with direct views of the ball field; two tickets to the official Fenway Park Tour, a 50-minute walking tour; and a welcome basket of Baby Ruth candy bars, old-fashioned Coke bottles, boxes of Cracker Jack and stacks of baseball cards.

December 21, 2011 | By Jeannine Stein, Los Angeles Times / For the Booster Shots blog

The baseball cards Amelie Mancini makes are not exactly what fans are used to seeing. Sure, they contain player stats, but not the usual ones. For example, did you know that shortstop and second baseman Clint Barmes fell and broke his collar bone while carrying a package of deer meat up a flight of stairs? Or that former outfielder Glenallen Hill reportedly scraped himself up after having a nightmare about spiders? Or that former pitcher John Smoltz allegedly burned himself while ironing a shirt...while he was still wearing it?

Part of an octogenarian's collection of rare baseball cards fetched $1.6 million in an auction, officials said. Lionel Carter, 89, of Evanston started his collection as a 15-year-old when he eschewed a nickel candy bar for a pack of 1932 Delong cards. His stash ballooned to 50,000 cards and became one of the nation's most renowned collections. Carter's mint-condition Mickey Mantle rookie card sold for $165,000. A set of 1938 Goudy Gum cards sold for $280,000. At least 5,500 cards were sold.

The growth of the sports autograph business is a spinoff of the baseball card boom. Driven by increased interest in baseball and the influx of serious investors into the field, the value of baseball cards soared in the 1980s. Prices for complete annual sets have jumped 35% a year since 1981; a 1952 Topps set in top condition brings $35,000 to $40,000 and a single rare 1910 Honus Wagner card sold for $110,000. All this for what were once childhood icons that mothers routinely discarded.

At a youthful 55, Roger Guenveur Smith is at least a few decades too old to carry baseball cards in his wallet, but the one he takes out to show has a special meaning. The memories he discusses on the outdoor patio of an Echo Park coffee shop are not serene: The card — which he found at a swap meet a few years ago — is a replacement for one he burned more than 40 years ago. On the card is Juan Marichal — then a San Francisco Giants pitcher — who, one summer day in 1965, at bat in the third inning of a close game, hauled off and hit Dodgers catcher John Roseboro, who he thought had provoked him. He hit Roseboro hard, with his bat, in the head, three times — enough to draw blood from a 2-inch gash.